edbanky
05-15-2005, 02:11
Having sent my M3 back to Cowon for a replacement, I decided to hedge my bets by trying out one of its competitors (the OTHER FLAC player). Since New Egg was selling new Karmas for roughly what people will pay on eBay, I decided I would try the two units out head-to-head and sell the loser.
So far the Karma is kicking some serious ass, although there are many exceptions to that "ass"essment. Maybe the most important consideration is that several of the M3's features are useless or relatively unimportant to me. These include: FM radio, recording (a legitimate recording setup might be useful) & realtime encoding, any of the almost superfluous afterthoughts like A->B looping.
KARMA +
Among the more important considerations for me, the Karma has the following: Wonderful, clear sound, TRULY gapless playback, really intuitive tag-based organization, a nice big screen, (not quite sure how to explain this exactly) the build is such that I would feel comfortable dropping it in a pants pocket, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, flawless (so far) FLAC playback,.
M3+
Some of the important pluses for the M3:
A separate remote (this is turning out to be really important), cosmetic design wowness (including overall beauty, compactness, sleekness) and a good protective case.
KARMA-
The Karma has these shortcomings by my reckoning:
Ugliness (it is clunky and hearkens back to stuff from the 80s or something), high scratch potential (shiny plastic screen area coupled with lack of a useable case), awkward dimensions (it is shorter than the M3, but thicker--similar to a Klondike bar in dimensons), NO REMOTE offered or available (despite obvious intentions in early design of earphone jack)
M3-
The M3 exhibits these issues, in my book:
Lack of onboard screen, being too nice (I am almost scared to really "use" it cause it is so beautiful and thin), FLAC playback issues up the ass, freeze-ups, tedious navigation on a small, nearly symmetrical (making it harder to use by feel) remote, gaps/pops between tracks
Something else to consider is that I got the Karma only a few days ago, but I have already used it about 1/3 of the total time I have used the M3. I have read that the Karma drives have a high failure rate, and their warranty is a despicable 90 days long. So for my own safety, I am gonna really push my Karma's HDD to encourage failure in the next few weeks or--hopefully--last for a few years for me.
In the event that the Karma passes these rigors, I will probably be selling my M3 sometime soon. I will put it up in the classifieds if I do. If the Karma goes kaput, I will likely use the M3 through its warranty period (barring further issues), or maybe look at one of the new screen-having Cowon models, hoping that their hardware might better support FLAC.
So far the Karma is kicking some serious ass, although there are many exceptions to that "ass"essment. Maybe the most important consideration is that several of the M3's features are useless or relatively unimportant to me. These include: FM radio, recording (a legitimate recording setup might be useful) & realtime encoding, any of the almost superfluous afterthoughts like A->B looping.
KARMA +
Among the more important considerations for me, the Karma has the following: Wonderful, clear sound, TRULY gapless playback, really intuitive tag-based organization, a nice big screen, (not quite sure how to explain this exactly) the build is such that I would feel comfortable dropping it in a pants pocket, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, flawless (so far) FLAC playback,.
M3+
Some of the important pluses for the M3:
A separate remote (this is turning out to be really important), cosmetic design wowness (including overall beauty, compactness, sleekness) and a good protective case.
KARMA-
The Karma has these shortcomings by my reckoning:
Ugliness (it is clunky and hearkens back to stuff from the 80s or something), high scratch potential (shiny plastic screen area coupled with lack of a useable case), awkward dimensions (it is shorter than the M3, but thicker--similar to a Klondike bar in dimensons), NO REMOTE offered or available (despite obvious intentions in early design of earphone jack)
M3-
The M3 exhibits these issues, in my book:
Lack of onboard screen, being too nice (I am almost scared to really "use" it cause it is so beautiful and thin), FLAC playback issues up the ass, freeze-ups, tedious navigation on a small, nearly symmetrical (making it harder to use by feel) remote, gaps/pops between tracks
Something else to consider is that I got the Karma only a few days ago, but I have already used it about 1/3 of the total time I have used the M3. I have read that the Karma drives have a high failure rate, and their warranty is a despicable 90 days long. So for my own safety, I am gonna really push my Karma's HDD to encourage failure in the next few weeks or--hopefully--last for a few years for me.
In the event that the Karma passes these rigors, I will probably be selling my M3 sometime soon. I will put it up in the classifieds if I do. If the Karma goes kaput, I will likely use the M3 through its warranty period (barring further issues), or maybe look at one of the new screen-having Cowon models, hoping that their hardware might better support FLAC.